This management was looked upon, at least, as a piece of youthful indiscretion in Mr. St. John; and, perhaps, was represented in a worse view to Mr. Harley. Neither am I altogether sure, that Mr. St. John did not entertain some prospect of succeeding as first minister, in case of Mr. Harley's death; which, during his illness, was frequently apprehended. And I remember very well, that, upon visiting Mr. Harley, as soon as he was in a condition to be seen, I found several of his nearest relations talk very freely of some proceedings of Mr. St. John; enough to make me apprehend that their friendship would not be of any long continuance. Mr. Harley, soon after his recovery, was made an earl, and lord-treasurer; and the lord-keeper a baron. of Godolphin's death, when an Order of the Garter became a gift in the Crown, Swift confessed to Stella that the quarrel could only be patched up. Later, it became so painful to Swift that he retired to Letcombe to be away from the final scenes; and left his friends to fight and fume against each other while he busied himself with writing the "Free Thoughts upon the Present State of Affairs." [T. S.] NOTE. In a previous note (see page 390) it is mentioned that Swift, to be out of the way of the final struggle between Oxford and Bolingbroke, retired to Letcombe. Bolingbroke received the news with a gay laugh, and sent his friend a hamper of wine, to solace him in his retirement. Swift found in the situation little to laugh at. He clearly foresaw the results of the eternal bickerings and mischievous misunderstandings between the two ministers. He anxiously desired to do something which, if it could not reconcile the two chiefs, should, at least, influence public opinion in their favour. At the same time, it might be, that what he could say might make them lose their personal animosities in the larger issues of the country's welfare. He, therefore, left them to write his "Free Thoughts." At Letcombe he stayed for two and a half months, a time full of momentous happenings for England. That Swift could absent himself at such a time shows how seriously he had viewed the shadows of the coming events. His letter to Walls (quoted by Craik from the Murray MSS., "Life of Swift," vol. i., page 364, edit. 1894) gives us a little insight into his then frame of mind: "I am now retired into the country [he is writing 11th June, 1714], weary to death of Courts and ministers and business and politics. I hope to be in Ireland, if possible, by the end of the summer; sooner I cannot, having many papers to look over and settle while I am here. I was six weeks compassing the great work of leaving London, and did it at last abruptly enough; but go I would: the reasons I may live to tell you, or perhaps you will guess them by their effects before I see you. I shall say no more, but that I care not to live in storms, when I can no longer do service in the ship, and am able to get out of it. I have gone through my share of malice and danger, and will be as quiet the rest of my days as I can. So much for politics." In spite, however, of his determination to be quiet, he busied himself with the "Free Thoughts." When it was completed he sent it to his friend, Charles Ford, the gazetteer, and asked him to instruct Barber to print it. Barber, anxious to seize an opportunity of favouring himself with Bolingbroke, showed him the manuscript. Bolingbroke expressed himself as being highly delighted with the work, and took it with him, as he said, to make some alterations and corrections. But instead of returning it he kept it for weeks, and in spite of Ford's anxiety and Swift's anger, Barber could not get it back. No doubt, Bolingbroke suspected its authorship, and took the liberty with the more ease of mind. When the manuscript did finally come back it was sent to Swift, and Swift, finding the alterations not in accordance "with his determination of neutrality" (vide Monck Mason's "History of St. Patrick," page 282, note xv, and Scott's "Life "), recalled and finally abandoned the publication of the tract. In any case, however, Bolingbroke had kept the tract so long that the time, when its publication might have been of service, had passed. Scott thinks (" Memoirs of Swift," page 205, 1824) "it is remarkable, that, although he loved Oxford far better than Bolingbroke, and indeed better than any other man who lived, yet almost the whole censure expressed in the piece falls to the share of that statesman. This consideration and the story above related suggests to Monck Mason "a reasonable doubt, whether the tract exists in its original unaltered state, or in that to which we are told it was converted by Bolingbroke, who wished to make it more suitable to his own political intrigues." Monck Mason's suggestion, however, is deprived of much of its value from the fact that Ford, who had read the MS. before it reached Barber, wrote to Swift (July 17th, 1714), in commenting on Bolingbroke's desire to make alterations: "I am heartily vext at the other person [Bolingbroke], from whom one might have expected a more honourable proceeding. There is something very mean in his desiring to make alterations, when I am sure he has no reason to complain, and is at least as fairly dealt with as his competitor" [Oxford]. This accords with the impression the present text leaves on the reader. Swift must have been engaged on another pamphlet at the same time, for Ford, writing on August 14th, 1714, says, "I long for the other." And Swift, in his letter to Bolingbroke of September 14th of the same year, mildly rebukes his friend: "The take this country; it has, in three weeks, spoiled two as good sixpenny pamphlets, as ever a proclamation was issued against.' The other pamphlet was probably the "Memoirs relating to that Change which happened in 1710." 66 The "Advertisement to the Reader," dated Dublin, 1741, explains how Faulkner came to print this tract for the first time. I have been unable to procure a copy of the first Dublin edition, but T. Cooper, 'at the Globe in Pater-Noster Row," printed two separate editions in 1741. On the title-pages of both it is stated: "Dublin, printed : London, Reprinted." The present text is that of Scott (1824), corrected by that issue of Cooper's, which most nearly corresponds with that printed by Faulkner in 1746, in vol. vii. of his edition of Swift's works. [T. S.] |